


Secrets

by orphan_account



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, M/M, Magic, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 09:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1852591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur's boyfriend is normal. Too normal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merlocked18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merlocked18/gifts).



> For Merlocked18, who felt the world didn't have enough modern magic AUs, and who was hoping someone would write a fic for her art. Here you are /o/
> 
> (Also uses a few prompts for Camelot Land because killing all the birds with one stone is what cool kids do.)

Arthur’s boyfriend was normal. He had normal teeth and eating habits. His feet were average-sized, his cock wasn’t too big or small, his laugh wasn’t annoying, he made an average amount of money. He could generally last about seven minutes when they fucked, three if it was particularly good, and he knew how to cook a decent number of dishes, but wasn’t the best chef in the world.

Arthur’s boyfriend Merlin was completely and without a doubt normal.

But there were things. Things that Arthur couldn’t explain and that didn’t make sense. Little things that wouldn't have showed up on the weirdness radar if it was anyone who wasn't so abnormally normal. Because Merlin was about as average as any bloke could get, the little things stuck out.

Like when Arthur had fallen asleep at Merlin’s one night and woke up the next day to the sound of Merlin’s mobile alarm. He knew for a fact that the mobile was across the room, but then he heard the noise getting louder, and just before opening his eyes, he saw it right in Merlin’s hand, Merlin’s thumb jabbing the red ‘dismiss’ button on the screen.

Or when Arthur had forgot his tea while they were watching a film in the living room one night, and grumbled that it would be cold once he remembered. Merlin had picked up the cup, peered into it, then smiled and said, “Nope, still hot,” before handing it to him. Arthur _knew_ that tea had been sitting at least an hour. And yet it was warm when he drank it, the perfect temperature, as though no time at all had gone by.

The least weird (but still worthy of mentioning) event happened occasionally when Merlin slept. Merlin didn’t generally talk in his sleep, but there were rare moments when he mumbled a phrase or two, and one morning when Arthur had stared at his amazingly average boyfriend, tracing the curves of his face with his eyes, Merlin had said something that sounded like utter gibberish. Arthur had dismissed it at first, pinning it as nothing but sleep babble, but then, when he’d leaned in and gone to kiss Merlin awake, Merlin repeated it, his lips clearly forming the words, with purpose, with intent and meaning, as though he were speaking some foreign language.

He couldn’t come right out and ask Merlin if he had any secrets though. They’d been together for nearly two years, had passed the “I love you” stage and were even dancing around the moving in stage, but Arthur wasn’t sure how to phrase it. Could he really just say “Is there anything you’re not telling me?” Merlin would think Arthur didn’t trust him, and Arthur did trust him.

Arthur tried subtlety, but he’d never been particularly good at that. He tried asking if there was anything special Merlin wanted to do for his birthday, if there were any strange relatives he had funny stories about, if he ever tried to learn an exotic language. Merlin had just laughed and said he didn’t care what they did for his birthday, that he’d only ever known his mother and uncle, and what the hell counted as an exotic language anyway, fucking Klingon?

It wasn’t until Arthur woke up during a storm one night at Merlin’s house that Arthur found out the truth. A loud clap of thunder startled him awake, and his body jerked to alertness from the sudden sound.

Merlin wasn’t in bed with him.

Arthur felt the wrinkled sheet beside him and found it cold. Merlin had been out of bed for a while then.

“Merlin?”

Something didn’t feel right. Maybe it was rain beating against the windows or the howling wind outside that had Arthur on edge, but when he got out of bed to go look for Merlin, it was the unnatural crackle of tension in the air that made goosebumps break out across his skin. Like when someone turned a television on; the airwaves just felt _different_.

The fact that there weren’t any lights on didn’t help. Arthur knew Merlin’s house well enough to navigate it without them, but the fact that it was completely dark, that Merlin had been out of bed somewhere without a single light on, was just weird.

For the first time in forever, Merlin had done something not normal. Something weird.

“Merlin?”

Merlin wasn’t upstairs. Arthur put a hand on the railing and made his way down, his heart beating faster with each step. He felt the tension in the air thicken as he descended, and it was as though something were pulling him toward the source.

Arthur ignored the roll of thunder that seemed to shake the walls as he entered the living area. Raindrops sliding down the window on the left made shadows dance across the room, and occasional flashes of lightning caused the otherwise dimly lit space to briefly brighten. Arthur walked to the centre of the room, between the sofa and the telly, and looked around.

He didn’t know what it was, but the pull, the energy, the _something_ , seemed to be strongest here. He thought about calling out Merlin’s name again, but his heart was suddenly in his throat, making it impossible to swallow, let alone speak.

He turned, ready to go back upstairs. Maybe Merlin wasn’t here at all, maybe he’d gone out somewhere, for a drive or a snack or something. But as Arthur started walking back, a glimmer of light near the wall caught his eye.

It was coming from the bookshelf. Usually, it stood straight and sturdy, ancient-looking but durable. It was displaced a little now, a bit to the left of its normal position, and Arthur wouldn’t have noticed at all if it were for the pulsing light seeming to radiate from the edge.

All at once, the pull grew stronger. Arthur didn’t think about it before taking a step forward, and before he realised he’d moved, he was across the room, upon the shimmering line of light. He gave the bookshelf a tug, a pull back, a push further to the left, and suddenly a wooden staircase came into view, leading down into the pulsating light.

“Merlin?”

The light’s source went out instantly, but the remainder seemed to fade slowly, like the leftover heat in a lightbulb. It was completely dark before Arthur dared call out again, but he didn’t move to descend the stairs just yet.

“Merlin!”

There was darkness, but then there was Merlin, suddenly illuminated at the foot of the stairs by a flash of lightning. Arthur thought he imagined the brief flicker of the person he saw down there, and wasn’t sure if the shadowy outline he could still just barely make out was really there.

Arthur spoke one more time, just to be sure. “Merlin?”

“Go back to bed, Arthur,” came the reply. It sounded like the voice Arthur knew so well, only hollow, flat. It made Arthur’s skin prickle.

“What are you doing, Merlin?”

Another strike of lightning made Arthur flinch, but it was long enough to let him see Merlin again, standing there staring blankly up. It didn’t sit right with Arthur at all, his usually smiling and carefree lover behaving as though he were dead inside.

 

And whatever hidden basement this was behind the bookshelf, it didn’t feel right either.

“Go to sleep, Arthur,” Merlin said. It was more like himself this time, a trace of annoyance that Arthur could put his finger on, having heard before.

“What are you hiding down here?”

The bookshelf slammed back into place, to the right and up against the wall, blocking the entry to the basement with a thud almost as loud as the rolling thunder. Arthur jumped back to avoid getting a finger or toe crushed.

_How the hell...?_

“Merlin!”

Arthur tried pushing the bookshelf aside, but it wouldn’t budge, not even a little. The light returned, brilliant and pulsing like before, bright enough to make the bookshelf glow.

What the hell was happening down there?

“Damn it, Merlin!”

Arthur gave up when he realised it seemed the thing was stuck fast to the wall. There was nothing for it but to wait.

He huffed and stomped to the armchair, turning it so it faced the hidden stairs before taking a seat. He could wait. He’d be angry about it, but he could wait.

He wasn’t just angry, though. Part of him was a bit worried. This wasn’t like his normal, not at all weird boyfriend in the slightest. This wasn’t Merlin.

It was a bit frightening.

Arthur sighed. It’d been almost two years, and this was the first he was ever learning of what lay behind the bookshelf. He wanted to know what Merlin was doing, how long he’d been doing it for, what it meant for them, and why Merlin felt the need to keep it secret.

With nothing else to do, Arthur’s mind began to wander, and he started thinking about the other things, the other little weird occurrences that plagued him. Alone, they could mean nothing, but together, with _this_...

Arthur wasn’t even going to think it. It was stupid, impossible, irrational. It was laughably idiotic.

_Magic._

Arthur shook his head. No. Didn’t exist. Wasn’t possible. There had to be another explanation. Whatever it was, he would demand it of Merlin the second he saw him again.

_Explain the bookcase._

Arthur glared at the bookshelf ahead angrily. There was a reason it had moved, seemingly on its own. There was an explanation. There _was_.

Arthur got up, determined to move it this time. As soon as he was on his feet, the light behind the bookshelf began to fade again, until it ceased to glow completely. Arthur crossed quickly, and gave the bookshelf one forceful push.

It slid aside easily, revealing the dark depths below once more. Arthur waited for another flash of lightning to helpfully light the stairs, but the rain seemed to be letting up now. The wind wasn’t buffeting against the house as it had been.

“Merlin?”

There was no response. Arthur searched blindly for a light switch, but didn’t find one. He turned and walked to the lamp on the table, switching it on to provide at least a bit of dimness to allow him to navigate the stairs. How he’d navigate the remaining darkness, he’d no idea. Merlin never kept torches in his house for as long as Arthur knew him.

“Merlin!” Arthur called again, putting his hands on opposite walls as he descended. “Merlin, what the hell are you doing?”

When there was still no reply, Arthur began to worry. He hurried down the rest of the steps and put his arms out to blindly feel his way around. The area seemed mostly empty until he walked into what he soon discovered was an armchair.

After another moment of searching the dark, he found a string hanging from above, and gave it a pull, finally managing to give the place some light. He blinked and squeezed his eyes shut initially, but after a few seconds was able to peer out through his eyelashes.

“Merlin?”

Arthur looked around. It was a sparsely furnished basement, more of a cellar really, with two tables and the armchair Arthur had run into before. One table was about average, a normal end table with a stack of books on it that rested beside the chair. The other table, up against the wall, was much larger, more rectangular than square, and was littered with so many items that Arthur couldn’t make out some of them. He saw candles and bowls and maybe a few pencils, but he wasn’t curious about the rest just yet. He was more interested in where his boyfriend was.

Looking around again, Arthur found him in what appeared to be an alcove, a indentation in the wall about the size of a phonebox. He was sitting slumped over on the floor, chin on his chest and unmoving.

“Merlin!”

Arthur rushed over. He could tell from the way Merlin’s chest was rising and falling that he was still breathing, but he didn’t know if Merlin was in pain or not. He looked so small and fragile, limp and weak.

Arthur pulled Merlin up into his arms, trying to rouse him, but Merlin’s eyes remained closed. “Merlin? Merlin, you idiot, what did you do? Merlin!”

There was nothing, no movement, not even when Arthur shook him. All Arthur’s previous anger evaporated and turned to worry as he cradled Merlin’s head in his lap. His heart was beating so fast that he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

Arthur gave Merlin one last shake, screaming his name. “ _Merlin_!”

That elicited a groan. Arthur went silent and still, waiting to see what would happen. Merlin’s eyelashes fluttered, and two small lines formed between his brows as he frowned a little.

“Arth...?”

The second syllable of Arthur’s name seemed to get lost as Merlin’s voice trailed off, and Merlin’s eyes flickered open briefly to stare up at him in confusion before sliding closed again. He no longer looked hollow as he had before, but was back to his usual soft self.

“Merlin, are you alright?” Arthur asked. “What happened?”

Merlin sighed softly and turned his head, burying his face in the warmth of Arthur’s stomach. His voice came out muffled. “Tired. Lemme sleep.”

“We’re on the floor, Merlin!”

“So take me up to bed.”

“Merlin, tell me what happened down here,” Arthur insisted, pulling Merlin’s head back into the light. Merlin groaned in protest. “Where was all the light coming from? Why wouldn’t you let me down here?”

“Arthur, I’m _tired_ , I want to sleep,” he whined. “Please let’s just go to bed.”

“You’ll tell me when you wake up?”

“Yes, yes, I’ll tell you.”

Arthur didn’t like it, but he also knew that Merlin could be stubborn when he put his mind to it. Arthur wouldn’t be getting anything out of him tonight.

“Alright. But I’m not carrying you.”

“Chair.”

“What?”

“Chair,” Merlin repeated louder. “Jus’ put me in the chair and then go back t’ bed.”

Arthur looked at the armchair. He’d thought it was meant solely for reading, but on second glance, it did seem large enough to curl up in, or even spread out across the armrests. With a sigh, he hoisted Merlin up and managed to carry him to the chair, draping his legs over the side.

Merlin exhaled gratefully and turned toward the back, tucking his arms in. Arthur wanted to stay angry at him, but he looked like such a child that way and couldn’t find it in him. Now that he knew Merlin was unhurt, he felt a bit better.

He’d make sure to be furious in the morning though.

Arthur looked over his shoulder back at the larger table. He was tempted to have a closer look at it, but now that the adrenaline was gone and the excitement was over, he _was_ rather tired. The memory of Merlin’s big, warm bed was certainly enticing.

He’d make Merlin tell him everything the next day. Regardless of what happened tonight, he knew Merlin was good for it. After gazing at Merlin one last time, Arthur turned off the light and went upstairs.

Arthur woke up briefly when he felt what must have been Merlin falling into bed with him some time later. He registered that the sun had come up, but the light in the room was still dim, so he basked in the feeling of an arm wrapping around him and let himself go back to sleep. The next time he woke up, it was much brighter.

Arthur managed to turn over without disturbing Merlin too much. Rubbing his eyes and blinking to focus them, he saw Merlin was still fast asleep, deep enough to be snoring a bit. His face was completely slack, his breathing slow and even, and his eyes flicking quickly back and forth beneath his lids. Arthur wondered what he was dreaming about.

When Arthur moved enough to slip from under Merlin’s arm, Merlin groaned and frowned in his sleep, and Arthur slowed his motions to keep from waking him. Arthur made it as far as the door before he heard the rustle of the duvet and the cracking of stretching limbs.

“Arthur?”

Arthur turned back to the bed. Merlin’s hair was in disarray, and he had the most endearing expression of confusion on his face Arthur had ever seen. But then it was quickly masked with wariness.

“What time is it?” Merlin asked.

Arthur saw the question for what it was. It wasn't a ‘where are you going?’ or a ‘what are you doing?’ but an attempt to get Arthur to stay, to talk, to pretend things were normal.

“Don’t know,” Arthur said.

Merlin sat up in the bed, scratching the side of his head. Arthur had seen him do it loads of times, but it was different today, like watching an actor carry out the same scene but now with the knowledge that it was fake.

“It’s Sunday, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm.”

Merlin lay back with a drawn out sigh, his head sinking into the pillow. His chest rose and fell once heavily before settling back into its normal rhythm of breathing. Merlin still looked knackered.

Arthur hesitated, but then walked back to the bed, sliding beneath the duvet. Merlin’s lips curled up a little, and he moved closer, leaning his head on Arthur’s shoulder.

“Still tired, sorry,” Merlin said, yawning.

“Too tired to tell me what happened?”

There was a beat of silence, but then, “Guess not.”

“Good. You scared the hell out of me.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“You didn’t mean for me to find out.”

“Well. I was going to tell you eventually.”

“Tell me now. What happened?”

Merlin rolled onto his side, curling an arm around Arthur again. It felt nice, but it also felt like Merlin was holding on for a reason. Like he thought this would be the last time he’d get to do it, and making the most of his time.

“Merlin,” Arthur nudged.

“Not sure how to say it,” Merlin mumbled. “It’s kind of weird.”

“Just say it.”

“I sort of...have magic. A lot of it.”

Arthur closed his eyes and sighed. Of course.

“Magic, Merlin? Seriously? You expect me to believe that’s real?”

Merlin shook his head, as much as he could with it lying on Arthur’s shoulder. “You don’t have to believe. I never expected you to, every time I imagined telling you. This doesn’t change anything between us. It’s only every so often I have to do it anyway, maybe once every two months, once a month if it gets really bad—”

“What?”

Merlin stopped and looked up. “I know you probably can’t wrap your head around it. You’re...normal.”

Arthur had to laugh at that. “I’m normal? You’re calling _me_ normal?”

Merlin looked at Arthur as if he’d grown another head. “Uh, yes? As far as I know you don’t have magic. I mean maybe you’re weird in other ways, but in comparison to me—”

“Okay, okay, just...go back to last night. What were you doing?”

Merlin lowered his eyes. “I was draining. At least, that’s what I call it.”

“Draining.”

“Right.”

_What?_

“Okay, and what does draining entail?” Arthur asked.

Merlin licked his lips before slowly continuing. “Just...pretend you believe in magic for a moment. There’s people with a small bit, some who don’t even know they have it. Maybe they’re at a traffic signal and want it to change to green and unknowingly make it change just by wishing it. And there’s people with a bit more, who know something’s different about them and can feel their magic. They can do spells, but nothing dramatic. Then there’s me. Or people like me. But I haven’t found anyone as powerful as me yet.”

“Merlin...”

“Just keep pretending please. If you want to leave me after I’ve explained, then I’ll understand, but I promise this doesn’t change anything, not if you don’t let it.”

Arthur sighed. Maybe Merlin was right. It wasn’t like Merlin was mental. He just...believed in magic. Things could carry on as they had been before, couldn’t they?

“Alright, go on. You still haven’t got to what draining is.”

“With me, it’s like my magic gets restless. It starts to hurt me if I don’t use it enough. I imagine it sort of like a pressure meter, you know, the higher it is, the higher the danger. I can usually keep it relatively low by doing small things, like cooking with heat I conjure myself or suspending the sofa for a bit. But sometimes it gets too high and I need to do something big to let it out.”

“You need to drain.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s what the light was?” Oh God, had Arthur just asked that? As if he was going along with this madness?

Merlin nodded. “Yeah. That was my magic.”

“What do you mean it hurts you? Where does it hurt you?”

“Just makes me feel ill. Makes my body achy and heavy, like I’ve got the flu. Upsets my stomach and gives me a headache. If I don’t drain, the pain gets unbearable, it eats me from the inside out.”

Arthur didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know if Merlin suffered from some delusion or if it was real. He wanted to believe, because this was his boyfriend and he loved him, but all logic told him that it was impossible.

“I told you, you don’t have to believe me,” Merlin said, looking at Arthur again as though reading his mind. “I’m still me. Now you just know what I do in my basement every so often. And I promise I’m not in some witch cult or anything. I don’t practise any satanic rituals or pray to any...Okay, well I do pray to gods, but not strictly. You can ignore it completely if you like. It really doesn’t change anything.”

Merlin sounded so hopeful near the end. Arthur didn’t know what to believe, but he did know he didn’t want to lose Merlin. It even sounded a bit like Merlin was worried Arthur would leave him because of this, which explained why he hadn’t said anything before. Merlin couldn’t be mental if he had the intelligence to know something like this would frighten any sane person away. Could he?

“I don’t want it to change anything,” Arthur admitted. “But if there’s something...different with you, mentally—”

Merlin suddenly sat up. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You said different; you might as well have said wrong.”

“If I meant wrong I would’ve said wrong! Obviously you’re a functioning adult, you’ve just got this weird _thing_ that makes you think—”

“No, Arthur, stop. You know what? Just forget the whole thing. Last night never happened. Okay?”

Arthur was trying not to get angry, but he’d never been good at keeping his anger in check.

“Merlin, I found you lying on the floor. You have a basement hidden behind a bookcase. I’m not forgetting anything.”

“But you’re not going to believe me either.”

Arthur sighed and moved to get up again. He didn’t know what to believe. There’d been _something_ down there, something that made the bookshelf move by itself, but _magic_?

“Arthur, wait.” Merlin stopped him with a hand on his arm, and Arthur let his weight fall back to the bed. “I’ll show you. Just...don’t be frightened.”

The idea that Merlin could possibly frighten him seemed ludicrous at first, but then Arthur remembered the previous night, the look in Merlin’s eyes that Arthur had never seen before. Merlin had certainly frightened him then. Merlin had seemed someone else entirely.

“Alright,” Arthur said.

Merlin’s lips twitched in a nervous smile as he positioned himself cross-legged on the bed. He rubbed his palms on the duvet and took a deep breath, as though preparing for some important ritual.

Arthur quirked a brow.

“Sorry. Just a bit worried you’ll run screaming,” Merlin said, obviously trying to keep the smile on his face. “And I’m still rather drained.”

“Right.”

“Okay.” Another deep breath, a crack of his knuckles. Merlin raised his hands to his lips and Arthur just barely caught the whisper. “ _Forbærnan_.”

Arthur wasn’t sure what was supposed to have happened at first, but then Merlin opened his palms, revealing the red glow of flickering flames, and Arthur gasped. It looked like Merlin’s hands were on fire, and Arthur couldn’t breathe, let alone move. But after looking more closely, Arthur saw that that wasn’t it—it was more that Merlin was holding the fire in place, suspended in mid-air as though it were abstract energy.

“Don’t touch it!” Merlin exclaimed when Arthur had begun to extend a finger. “It’ll burn you.”

“What...But...”

The flame began to change colours. It went from scarlet red to bright orange, from a stunning yellow to an iridescent green. Merlin separated his cupped palms, drawing the fire out into a sinuous wave as it shifted from green to cyan, from a brilliant sea blue to deep indigo, from violet to black to crimson and then back to that piercing red again.

Fire didn’t do that. Fire didn’t change colour that way unless some sort of chemical was involved, certainly didn’t move with such ease through the air without a shift in current. How in the world...

“Ugh.”

Merlin dropped his hands and slumped over breathlessly, and Arthur looked into his face just in time to see the glimmer of gold in his eyes fade to blue. The dancing fire between them disappeared into nothingness, leaving only the imprint of an image in Arthur’s mind.

“Storm took everything out of me, I think,” Merlin panted. He lay back again, his head hitting the pillow. “Need to rest a bit longer. But do you believe me now?”

Arthur pinched himself to make sure he was really awake. He tried to think logically, but logic wasn’t helping him here. He thought of the other weird occurrences—the mobile appearing in Merlin’s hand, the tea reheating, the mumbled language—and it all seem to fit together. It made sense, but it wasn’t supposed to make sense.

Magic just didn’t exist!

 _Why?_ he thought suddenly. _Why can’t it exist?_

He couldn’t answer that.

Merlin’s hand pulled at Arthur’s arm, urging him to lay down next to him. Arthur was still so stunned, so confused, that he let it happen, let Merlin bring his head to his chest and start stroking his hair.

“I can imagine it takes some getting used to,” Merlin said softly. “Please don’t leave.”

“I don’t want to leave.”

There, _something_ of which Arthur was certain.

Merlin’s chest rose and fell with a sigh. “Good.”

_Mobile, tea, spell, storm, fire..._

“Wait.” Arthur looked up, careful not to dislodge himself too much lest Merlin worry he was trying to pull away. “What did you mean about the storm? The one that happened last night?”

Merlin’s brow furrowed as he nodded. “Yeah. I told you, I have to do something big to drain. Something like a storm. You didn’t get that bit?”

“But a storm...That’s huge!”

Merlin laughed. “That’s the point. It’s big and destructive and expends a lot of energy. And I let my magic run free, in a sense, so there’s a lot of light involved. I can’t have my whole house glowing so I use the basement.”

“How long have you done it? How many storms are even natural anymore?”

Merlin shrugged. “Like I said, I only have to do it every so often, when it gets restless. It doesn’t mess with the natural weather pattern or anything, just the local area. When I was younger I lived by the water and used to let loose on the waves. Water can really take a beating,” he said, chuckling. “I didn’t know how to call storms until maybe five or six years ago. There haven’t really been that many people with my level of power so there’s not a lot of spells that challenge me. When I found the storm spell I was ridiculously excited.”

Merlin looked excited now. He was smiling and his eyes were all lit up, like he was so glad to finally be able to tell Arthur about it. It made Arthur wonder who else knew. Did the whole world think Merlin was some average, ordinary bloke, or were there a few others privy to his secret?

Arthur couldn’t help laughing at the thought. Just moments ago he’d refused to believe, and now he was treating it as though it was a perfectly normal thing to think.

Then Merlin’s stomach growled, and Arthur’s head was still close enough to his chest that he could hear it.

“Sorry,” Merlin said, smiling sheepishly. “Also makes me kind of hungry.”

It was still so weird, so unbelievably...unbelievable. But Arthur was also incredibly relieved. He finally knew what the final mystery to his boyfriend was, had finally been allowed to learn the last secret between them, and it hadn’t been because Merlin didn’t trust him, but because he’d been worried of Arthur leaving.

It sort of made Merlin shine in a whole new light.

“Guess I’ll make us something to eat then,” Arthur said, getting up.

Merlin yawned and stretched, his joints cracking. “Mmm. Okay.”

“And then I suppose you can tell me about those gods you worship.”

Merlin laughed. “Okay.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Secrets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2309915) by [rowanbrandybuck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowanbrandybuck/pseuds/rowanbrandybuck)
  * [[Podfic] Secrets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4636278) by [wastingawallflower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wastingawallflower/pseuds/wastingawallflower)




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